Volunteers successfully raise funds for South Creake defibrillator
Coffee morning volunteers with the new South Creake defibrillator. From left - Peter Haywood, Alison Wakeman, Sue and Paul Hart, Glynis Clack and Rodney Wakeman. Picture: Peter Bird - Credit: Archant
In just twelve months a morning break with a coffee and a cake has raised enough money to buy a defibrillator for South Creake, near Fakenham.
The success was all due to the efforts of three South Creake friends, together with a small band of volunteers, who have raised the £1,640 needed to buy the machine.
Glynis Clack, Sue Hart and Alison Wakeman started by running coffee mornings in the village’s community centre, the Memorial Pavilion, to provide residents with the opportunity to meet socially and in the process raise funds for the Pavilion upkeep.
But their efforts quickly turned into a fund-raiser for a piece of vital life-saving equipment.
The coffee mornings, which started last August and are held on the last Wednesday morning of the month from 10.30am to noon, are proving to be so popular they now attract around 60 customers.
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Tea is also on offer and so is the volunteers’ wide range of home-made cakes. Other volunteers run stalls to help raise even more money.
Surrounding the centre, which was opened two years ago by the Duke of Edinburgh, are tennis, football and bowls clubs while the hall hosts Zumba and keep-fit classes.
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Individuals from all walks of life can suffer sudden heart problems but defibrillators have proved to be an important piece of life-saving equipment where strenuous activities are carried out.
Sue Hart said: “The pavilion is the centre of village life and we thought it would be the best place for the defibrillator,”
The machine is now installed on the outside wall of the Pavilion facing the main road through the village and is easily accessible by those using the Pavilion, both residents and holiday makers.
At a public meeting on October 18 at 5.30pm NHS Ambulance staff will introduce the equipment to residents and teach up to twelve volunteers the skills of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, better known as CPR, a manual skill that can keep a patient alive until the arrival of doctors or paramedics.
The next coffee morning will be Wednesday, October 25. There will be stalls selling cards, books, plants and cakes.
If you are raising funds for a good cause in your community then tell us all about it by emailing details to dft.news@archant.co.uk.
